Crozier (1520) by Giacomo Galeazzo CambiFondazione Museo del Tesoro del Duomo e Archivio Capitolare
The dinasty
Bishops, cardinals, canons. More than a family, the Ferrero family was a dynasty.
For decades at the head of the Vercelli Church, family members honored it and enriched it with precious gifts.
In the Discorsi Historiali concernenti la vita, et attioni de' Vercelli bishops of 1676, Canon Marco Aurelio Cusano remembers that Agostino Ferrero, bishop between 1511 and 1536, donated to the Cathedral of St. Eusebius a processional cross, a pastoral staff and "the mystery of Peace which is given to kiss to the Great Personages, while they attend Masses."
The processional cross is stylistically comparable to the Lombard area, vivaciously worked. The silver crosier and the peace with the Deposition scene, on the other hand, can be traced back to the same workshop, that of the Cremonese brothers Giacomo and Galeazzo Cambi, nicknamed Bombarda, who left their signature through the inscription on the small node of the crosier.
Ferrero Pax (1520) by Giacomo and Galeazzo CambiFondazione Museo del Tesoro del Duomo e Archivio Capitolare
Precious patronage
Common to the crosier and the Peace, on which there is no workshop signature, are stylistic proximities. These include the fragile vine branch that climbs the columns of the Peace, similar to the one that ascends along the pastoral staff.
Agostino Ferrero, bishop between 1511 and 1536, also promoted the major decorative campaign in the part of the Archbishop's Palace wing that now houses the Museum. Still visible is part of the decoration of the ground floor rooms frescoed with views, loggias and grotesques.
International relations
Cusano also mentions the precious chalice donated by Giovanni Stefano Ferrero, bishop of Vercelli from 1599 to 1610. The area of production is related to Jeremias Michael and David Altenstetter and the connection with the imperial court.
The connection between the Ferrero family and Rudolph II of Habsburg, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire between 1576 and 1612, can probably be found in the important assignments of John Stephen. In fact, he was of apostolic nuncio in Prague between 1604 and 1607, a period when, following the trends of the new figurative updating of the Savoy court, he also brought to Vercelli a cultural renewal of wide international relevance.
Devotions and family relationships
According to sources, Giovanni Stefano Ferrero's chalice, on major solemnities was displayed above the major altar. Inside were kept the Holy Relics of St. Charles Borromeo, canonized in 1610 and also linked to the Ferreros by family relations.
Family relations and the receptivity of the diocese of Vercelli to ecclesiastical updates established a strong devotion to St. Charles. The values that Borromeo imparted to the episcopate were those formed during the work of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) transposed and translated into the decrees of the synods of Vercelli, promoted under Bishop Guido Ferrero (1562-1572) and his successor Giovanni Francesco Bonomi (1572-1587) a fellow student of St. Charles.
After Borromeo's death, Vercelli could count on his contact relics and keep his memory alive: in 1584 the Cathedral acquired the Colletto, part of the outfit used on Charles' last journey and forgotten at the time of his departure.
In 1611 Paul V donated the saint's chiroteca ring to Bishop Giacomo Goria (+1648); the family then gave it to the Cathedral of Vercelli, which included it in a monstrance reliquary produced between the 17th and 18th centuries.
The ring, prior to its assignment to Goria, is enriched with a portrait of St. Charles.
But Charles Borromeo was not the only high-ranking contact of the Ferrero family. The dynasty was so important that it created connections and relationships with a great many other Renaissance figures. Among them was Giuliano della Rovere, who became Pope Giulio II in 1503, who in 1502, due to political problems, exchanged the bishopric of Bologna for the bishopric of Vercelli of Giovanni Stefano Ferrero (bishop since 1499) without ever visiting the city but sending in his place the bishop of Albenga Leonardo Marchese.
He did, however, donate to Vercelli Cathedral a rich vestment consisting of chasuble and cope, a symbol of the moral and religious richness of the diocese.
On October 31, 1503, Giuliano was elected pope with the name Giulio II by the unanimous vote of the conclave and returned the Vercelli diocese to Giovanni Stefano Ferrero (bishop again between 1503 and 1509), in addition to that of Bologna.
Cope of Giuliano della Rovere (Late 15th Century) by Italian manufacture for texteil, flamish-burgundy for embroideryFondazione Museo del Tesoro del Duomo e Archivio Capitolare
All that shines is gold
The gold yarn vestment is of Venetian manufacture, for the textile, and Flemish-Burgundian workshop for the embroidery. A splendid example of Renaissance refinement that, however, was not new to the Ferrero family.
A Fairy Tale Baptism
Thanks to Augustine Ferrero, in fact, the Cathedral acquired one of its most precious ecclesiastical furnishings. A tapestry with the Baptism of Christ produced perhaps by a Brussels manufactory and richly decorated with gold yarn.
A rich family, a dynasty of patrons. Men of faith who were able to reveal the richness of the Vercelli's diocese through the splendor and shine of gold and silver.
